Ethical Question (Alan Garcia) and Horse Racing Picks (Big Brown?)?

I agree about Big Brown... I believe that most of the reason that they're running on the grass is to see if Big Brown can win when Curlin could not. Its true that grass horses tend to do well on synthetics, but it seems a more reasonable step to have your dirt horse practice on the synthetic rather than making your dirt horse into a grass horse in hopes that it will somehow help his run on synthetic. There's really no substitute to actually trying out the actual surface that you'll be competing on. That approach seems more reasonable to me. Then again, nothing Dutrow has ever done has seemed reasonable to me, so maybe it's all part of his elaborate plan!

I think it also may be an issue about his feet... he got that quarter crack because of his two month long spring campaign and it seriously affected his chances in the Belmont. They don't want that to happen again. They put him on the grass for his workout before the Haskell to minimize wear and tear on his feet. Part of their motivation in prepping on the grass may be that it will keep his feet in a better condition leading up to the Breeders.

As for Alan Garcia, I would chalk it up to him being young and inexperienced. He was very excited about the chances of being leading rider and he made a bad decision because of it. We all tend to make some pretty stupid mistakes when we're young. He got his first real taste of success this year. He's exploding onto the scene as a really talented rider and as such, he's getting better horses, and is now in a position to win riding titles and other such honors. I think the success is affecting him a little bit, but he has to make mistakes to learn from them... he's just like the rest of us. I'm sure all of us have regretted something that we did around his age. Look at Kent Desormeaux... he got some talented horses and found some success then turned into an idiot for a long time before making his way back to the success in racing. So, yes, I'll agree with you that cancelling the horse you already agreed to ride was an extremely stupid decision. He never should have done it. I'm not excusing it or anything, I just don't find it to be entirely surprising. Everyone's head gets a little to big for themselves sometimes and it gets them into trouble. It wasn't the best career move, at some point, he'll suffer for it, then he'll come back a better jockey because he'll have learned from it.

Looks like two minds think alike here. Big Brown is going to have his work cut out for him in this mew Monmouth Stakes race. But for the life of me, I can't find out what grade it is. Another Hr friend of mine who is knowledgeable in the sport also, said it was BS. I think I will have to agree with that.

And also like you, I also believe that if you have made a commitment, you stick to your word. Garcia is dead wrong on this one.

1st he might get beat by the same horse that beat curlin on the turf, when you have a breeders' cup win....you are all racehorse.

it's up to the owners, my take he is on the way up, and has the

grit of wanting to be the top rider, but not like g. gomez who would

have went for the purse angle, and 70% of the time will fly in and

get the money.

With his pedigree Big Brown should have been racing on turf all along.

I'm not going to get into judging Alan Garcia.

you would think its about the horses, but its all about the money,

greedy bastards everywhere